St. Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ), fresh off of a 52-week high for its share price, said it’s launching another clinical trial of its neurostimulation technology for treating chronic pain.

The new, 450-patient Sense trial will compare spinal cord stimulation with a combination of SCS and peripheral nerve field stimulation in the treatment of chronic lower back pain and leg pain in patients who have undergone lumbar back surgery, using St. Jude’s Eon Mini and Eon rechargeable neurostimulators with percutaneous leads.

"Traditional spinal cord stimulation therapy has been used to manage chronic pain for more than 40 years and it works very well for many pain conditions," chief medical officer Dr. Mark Carlson said in prepared remarks. "Peripheral nerve field stimulation as an adjunct therapy has the potential to improve outcomes for those who struggle with severe chronic low back and leg pain."

Don’t miss your chance to hear Dr. Mark Carlson in person on the future of treating chronic pain at the Big 100 West event next week in Irvine, Calif.

"We often see patients who have had multiple back surgeries to alleviate their debilitating chronic pain. Ultimately, many of these surgeries fail, leaving patients to seek other options like neurostimulation therapy," added principal investigator Dr. Porter McRoberts of the Holy Cross Orthopedic Institute in Ft. Lauderdale. "Peripheral nerve field stimulation therapy, targeting local nerves near the painful area, combined with traditional spinal cord stimulation, targeting the central nervous system, has the potential to improve our ability to effectively manage patients with difficult-to-treat low back pain."

Yesterday St. Jude announced the Sunburst trial of its Prodigy neurostimulator to examine the treatment of chronic pain, a 442-patient study to investigate whether the Prodigy device’s burst stimulation technology is safe and effective in treating chronic intractable pain compared with traditional tonic stimulation.

Also yesterday, STJ shares logged a 52-week high of $59.88 apiece on the way to a $59.87 close, for a gain of 1.5% on the day.